A note on Develop has further indications that Battlefield 3 will not be released through Steam, as speculation mounts that DICE's military shooter sequel will not appear on Valve's download service. They quote a comment from a report from financial research firm Baird based on a meeting with GameStop: "The upcoming EA title Battlefield 3 will be sold as a download through GameStop, but not through Steam," Baird says GameStop executives told them. "Given Steam's dominance – and insistence on users downloading a Steam client application – publishers are likely to be receptive to a competitive alternative." Thanks Computer and Video Games.

As for BF3, I'll wait to see what happens. The comments that started this thread were from GameStop, whom has nothing to lose by bad mouthing Steam, and only potential sales to be gained by getting inaccurate info out there suggesting BF3 won't be on Steam.

Good point, I had forgotten they recently acquired Impulse. Although that does potentially explain how they would have discovered the information, assuming it was accurate. But as Bhruic posted earlier, it is second hand and filtered so who knows what is really going on. I'm not Steams biggest fan but they do have a better history than EA so I'm more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt but we'll see.